Chapter Six

"Summit, come here!" Jo called out to her crazy Golden Retriever. Summit galloped back over to his master and her cousin. "I don't want you to get lost," she murmured to the pooch. Jackson walked up behind her, stepping on the rocks in the river.

"Watch it," he said to her, "These rocks are slippery." Jo looked around them. They had started heading towards the West part of the island, following the tiny river downstream. They were underneath the canopy of the trees and right in front of the mountain. Jo nodded, watching her step. Summit trotted up beside the stream and chased after a bird he saw sitting up ahead.

"Summit, get back here," Jo said to him again. Summit continued to chase after the bird and send it flying away. He furiously barked at the bird, running around crazily. "Summit, stop it!" she yelled. Summit ignored her and kept trotting along.

"Jo!" Jackson shouted out. He darted towards her just as an enormous rock came tumbling down the side of the mountain. Jo felt Jackson's body collide with hers and she hit the ground.

"Jackson!" she yelled. She looked up just in time to watch the huge rockslide swallow her cousin's body. "Jackson!" she screamed in horror. The rocks kept falling and all she could do was sit there helplessly. Finally, the rocks stopped falling and there was silence in the valley. Jo looked up from her huddle by the side of the mountain. "Cojack?" she asked quietly. Jo stood up slowly. She saw Summit slowly warily walk around the pile of rocks.

"Jackson! Johanna! Summit!" Melissa called out. She looked over at Nathan and saw him give her the same disappointed look. Everyone knew daylight was running out fast and time was of the essence. Melissa turned her head and called out again, "Jackson!"

"We'll find them, don't worry," Daley said, walking up behind her.

"It's my entire fault," Melissa said quietly to herself again. Daley patted her on her back.

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is. I was too quick to judge Jo, I didn't listen to anything Jackson was trying to tell me, and jealousy got in the way of trust. I was way too naïve. I should have listened," Melissa replied. Daley didn't know what to say. She was right. Melissa had been very childish and quick about the whole thing.

"But when we find them, you'll all be able to say your apologies and then we can go back to how we all were… friends," Taylor said to them. Suddenly, Lex pushed his way through the group, jogging up ahead of everyone.

"I thought I heard something on the other side of the mountain. It sounded like a major rock slide but if I'm wrong, we could risk running out of time and they could get a big lead ahead of us. I'm not sure if we would be going in the right direction or getting further away."

"Well, it's not like we have a whole lot of choices here, captain. I say we go all or nothing," Eric said aloud. You could tell everyone was considering it.

"Eric, we're dealing with life and death here. Jackson and Jo didn't have nearly enough supplies to last them if they get lost or don't find help. I think we should stick to the North East side of the island. Knowing Jackson, he'd want to have full access to fish and to coconuts growing on the palm trees by the bay," Nathan replied. The group started heading towards the beach.

"Jackson… Jackson, can you hear me?" Jo called out. She dug through the big pile of rocks, but most of them were extremely difficult to move. "Cojack, hang in there," she told him, "I'm going to get help!" Jo got up and looked over at Summit. He stood there, looking alarmed and confused.

"Summit, go get help, okay? You've got to go find the others! Please, Summit." Jo took her torn jacket off her waist and placed it in between the Golden Retriever's teeth. He clamped it tightly in his jaw. "You have to go find help, Summit. Hurry, go find the others." She paused. "Go find Eric, yeah, go get Eric!" she told him. Summit suddenly turned around and dashed off in another direction. Jo sat there with a desperate look of plea on her face. "Please hurry," she whispered to herself.

Jo turned back to the rock pile and quickly tried digging her cousin out before the rocks crushed Jackson's body or before he ran out of air.

"Jackson! Johanna!" the group yelled over the jungle.

"Ah, my ankles hurt!" Taylor yelled out, overpowering all of them. She leaned on a tree, grabbing onto Eric by his shirt collar for balance. Nathan heard the princess's cry and rolled his eyes. This had to have been her fiftieth complaint since they left the camp.

"I think we should head further towards the other side of the beach. Jackson would stick by the bay where he could fish," Nathan replied aloud.

"Or would he stick towards the jungle where there's more vegetation and fruit?" Lex asked.

"Jackson was sick of fruit. He'd be yearning for fish… and I don't think he'd take that chance in the jungle," Daley said. "I feel we have the best chance combing the beach." Nathan nodded, agreeing finally with her. They started steering further away from the jungle.

"What is…?" Melissa started to say. They all looked up and saw a dog sprinting out of the jungle. It was Summit. He was barking wildly and racing towards them as fast as the pup's skinny legs could carry him. Summit finally reached the edge of the beach and honed in on Eric. He ran panting heavily with a piece of cloth dangling from his mouth.

"Oh no," Eric mumbled. "No… bad dog, no." Summit kept galloping towards Eric with an almost silly grin on his face. Eric shook his head and looked back at Summit. "No way! Don't even think about it!" Eric yelped before Summit leaped onto him, licking Eric's face like a mad dog. The group all smiled.

"What's this?" Lex said, picking up the piece of cloth that Summit had dropped right before he lunged onto Eric. Lex studied the cloth.

"That's mine! Jackson made me lend it to Jo! She was wearing it when they took off!" Taylor shouted, her ankle miraculously healing so she could jump up and retrieve the piece of her jacket. Summit stopped licking Eric's face for a moment to look up at the kids. Had they gotten the message?

Summit leaped up and started barking furiously again. He jumped up and down, trying to show them. The group all looked at him like he was the craziest mutt ever. Summit grabbed the piece of the jacket out of frustration and took off running again.

"Should we follow him?" Nathan asked. Summit gave one more sharp bark and galloped back off towards the jungle.

"It doesn't matter. That dog would follow Jackson and Johanna to the ends of the earth. He's our best chance of finding them. Come on!" Daley shouted, leading the troops towards the depths of the jungle.

Jo dug away a heavy rock from the pile and saw her cousin's bloody and bruised face. She gently ran her fingers over his defined jaw bones and his chunky cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Jackson," she whispered to him. "I never meant to get you into any of this… but I promise I'll get you out of here. Hang on, okay? We have to get out of here. We have to make it home. We have to read many more books with Mark. We have to set everything right back home. Please, Jackson, hang on," she pleaded to her cousin. Jackson still laid there, motionless with no response. Jo started to cry. She cried for everything. She cried for her family, for her friends, for her life. Jo broke down and cried. She dug out Jackson's hand and held it tightly, praying hope would arrive soon so she could save her cousin's life.

"Jo!" she heard someone cry. "Johanna!" She looked up and saw Summit running at her, leading the group towards her. Jo smiled, impressed that Jackson's friends had listened to her.

"Guys…" she said, stunned. "You came."

"Of course," Melissa said, walking up beside her, "We're a family no matter what. We have to be there for each other." Jo and Melissa both smiled. They finally hugged each other with a truce.

"I hate to break this up but um… does he look like he needs help to you?" Nathan asked, walking up to look at Jackson. Everyone jumped up, their minds thinking back to the severely injured Jackson.

"Help me get these rocks off him. They're extremely heavy," Jo said, trying to pry another rock off him. Melissa nodded, motioning to the rest of the group. Everyone quickly rushed into help. They all gripped onto a rock and pulled as hard as they could. The rock finally rolled off of Jackson's fragile body and fell to the ground with a thud.

"Hurry, get that rock off his leg!" Daley shouted. The group combined all their strength to push the boulder. It finally rolled off, falling to the ground.

"Carefully, let's carry him back to camp. Taylor and Lex, you two run ahead and clear the way through the brush," Nathan instructed. Everyone nodded and gently picked up Jackson's body, carrying it through the think, damp jungle, back towards camp. Carefully, Nathan, Daley, Eric, Jo, and Melissa carried his body with Taylor, Lex, and Summit leading the way. It was almost fifteen minutes later when they finally reached camp.